“Devotion to the truth is the hallmark of morality; there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking.” - Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

Thanks, Scepcop. I was certainly drawn to it. Not sure why. Just want to say you have filled a huge gap with this forum.The very woo woo stuff turns me off as I'm afraid I use logic a lot but this approach here is just what I need right now.Well done, you.

Kind of you to say that, ProfWag.Just remember I'm here to learn rather than to spout wisdom. There's been a battle raging inside me for years: logic versus intuition. Two things I am not-and they are gullible or cynical.I'm a doubter in that I don't jump to the conclusion that an event is paranormal when it may well be normal.The other part of me, paradoxically, longs for the conviction that other dimensions, including the world of spirit, exist in the natural scheme of things.I've been on forums where any wayout woo is accepted as truth. I'm glad to find this one is not so.

Chica wrote:There's been a battle raging inside me for years: logic versus intuition. Two things I am not-and they are gullible or cynical. I'm a doubter in that I don't jump to the conclusion that an event is paranormal when it may well be normal.The other part of me, paradoxically, longs for the conviction that other dimensions, including the world of spirit, exist in the natural scheme of things.I've been on forums where any wayout woo is accepted as truth. I'm glad to find this one is not so.

Sounds a lot like me and my search! I'm in neither extreme, I'm what they call part of "the excluded middle". I will examine the evidence, and the very first thing to check for is natural explanations, so I check what the Skeptics have to say about it and compare their explanations with the data itself and the counter-arguments of the proponents, and go back and forth examining the arguments and counter-arguments for and against from both sides, and from the data itself, to see which holds more water in a particular case or research study. And the most I will say is that this or that "highly suggests" there is something there worth considering / researching, but I never state it absolutely proves such and such.

Snap, Etaponge.The extremes enrage me. The New Age proponents make the most off-the-wall statements sometimes eg one saying she was channeling The Archangel Michael and another maintaining that he was one of those sent to help the world in 2012. I've also found that some of the hardline sceptics are the very people who have done no paranormal research whatsoever.They are not sceptics at all. Rather they are closed- minded cynics.I'd better stop there before I upset someone.

Chica wrote:Kind of you to say that, ProfWag.Just remember I'm here to learn rather than to spout wisdom. There's been a battle raging inside me for years: logic versus intuition. Two things I am not-and they are gullible or cynical.I'm a doubter in that I don't jump to the conclusion that an event is paranormal when it may well be normal.The other part of me, paradoxically, longs for the conviction that other dimensions, including the world of spirit, exist in the natural scheme of things.I've been on forums where any wayout woo is accepted as truth. I'm glad to find this one is not so.

So you mean you are technically neutral, but deep down, you hope that the spirit world and the mysterious, are real, right? Many true skeptics are like that.

That's why no matter how rational or objective we are, we always have to wonder if deep down we are biased.

I have come to conclude, as others have, that the real truth about existence, consciousness, the nature of reality, etc. is something far far beyond the mind or intellect's scope of comprehension. That's why there are so many seeming paradoxes. Thus it is unexplainable in words. All we can do is use words here to point to that ultimate truth somewhere out there.

“Devotion to the truth is the hallmark of morality; there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking.” - Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

You got it in one, Scepcop.I'm a neutral with strong leanings to the realms of the mysterious-in any form.I was about to say that those who have actually experienced eg an OBE or an NDE, are fortunate but, on further reflection, perhaps not. Maybe they are illusions. That's typical of my thinking.I so wish it were otherwise but I seem to be stuck there for the present.

Perhaps this post should be elsewhere in the forum. I think it may be in danger of going off topic.